A few days back, I had shared a hand-made sketch of Goddess Kaalratri on the 7th day of Navratri in my blog post: Navratri Day 7: Worshipping Devi Kaaratri through artwork. Today, I share a water-colour painting of Goddess Kali, a manifestation of Goddess Kaalratri, on the auspicious occasion of Kali Puja.
As written in my blog post on Goddess Kaalratri, according to Hindu Mythology, there existed a ferocious demon named Raktabeej, who was blessed with an extraordinary boon that one drop of his scattered blood was able to form a duplicate of him. Hence, in one way, he was invincible in a battle that involved bloodshed as drops of blood could form billions of the copies of the demon. The Gods pleaded to Goddess Parvati to help them out of their woes and she compliedby taking the form of Goddess Durga. However, She soon realized that the battlefield has become increasingly filled with his clones. Durga then summoned her fiercest form Kali to combat the demon. Kali destroyed Raktabeej by sucking all the blood from his body and not allowing anymore duplicates to form. It is believed that the Goddess was intoxicated by the blood of her victims and she began to dance with destructive frenzy. She was bent on destroying the whole universe! So, the Gods sought the help of Lord Shiva and He lay in her way to stop her.She was so consumed by rage that she failed to see the body of Shiva lying on the battlefield and stepped upon his chest. Realizing her husband lying beneath her feet, Kali stuck out her tongue in astonishment, guilt and shame, and calmed down her anger.
To know more about Goddess Kali, you can read the Wikipedia article: Kali.
Goddess Kali is depicted with a dark complexion, disheveled hair and a fierce appearance. She has three eyes and her breath spews fire. Her raised right hand is in Varada mudra (dispensing boons) and her right lower hand is in Abhay mudra (assuring safety and bliss). Her left lower hand holds the head of a demon and there is a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) in the upper left hand. She adorns a garland of skulls and decapitated heads of demons, and she wears a skirt of chopped arms. Her tongue protrudes from her mouth, and her face and breasts are smeared with blood. She is shown standing on her husband. Her mount is the donkey.
🙂 On this note, Happy Diwali to all my readers. May the Festival of Lights dispel all the darkness in your lives and illuminate your path to joy, success and prosperity. 🙂
The Kaleidoscopic Kanvas 